With the advent of the novel Coronavirus pandemic, Delhi University (DU) teachers demand permission to work from home, DU administration releases press release to accept their demands.
On 15th March, Delhi University sought permission for teachers from the Varsity administration to work from home as the classes were suspended for all students till 31st March,2020 due to COVID-19.
Four Academic Council members sent a letter to Yogesh K Tyagi, Vice Chancellor, DU, wherein they requested extending the semester session to make use of the time lost due to regular classroom teaching coming to a halt and make necessary changes to the examination schedule.
The members said in a joint letter, “The University must seriously consider extending the semester session by a fortnight to make up for the teaching time lost due to this temporary cessation of regular classroom teaching.”
In addition to this, they also added, “Teachers should be permitted to work from home to avoid unnecessary travelling of around 10,000 citizens.”
Assistant professors Deo Kumar, Kanchan and, Saikat Ghosh, and Associate Professor Rajesh Kumar, requested work from home permission in a letter they wrote to the Vice-Chancellor as some Principals of colleges affiliated to Delhi University had asked the faculty members to report to college despite the suspension of classes. Many faculty members from various colleges extended their support to the members of Academic Council.
In response to the letter, Delhi University issued a press release that said, “Teaching-learning process shall continue through e-resources. The teachers have the option to work from home.”
The study material will be provided to students on a weekly basis on the website of every college till the suspension of classes. However, the teachers are unclear about how successful this arrangement will be.
The members also said, “Online teaching cannot be a substitute for practical learning and laboratory work where regular teaching-learning is essential.”
Feature image credits: Niharika Dabral for DU Beat
Suhani Malhotra
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